MarketWatch Weekend Investor / Heavy Metals

By

Steve Kerch MarketWatch

Updated Jan. 7, 2006 12:01 a.m. ET

All that glitters is not gold -- other metals are providing eye-popping returns, too.

The Dow Jones U.S. Gold Mining stock index is up nearly 35% in the past two months, as the price of gold reached a 20-year high of more than $540 an ounce. (Gold futures have since fallen to less than $530 an ounce.)

While gold has led all sectors over the past two months, the next six best-performing stock-market sectors are all either...